


Sergeant Smith & PC Khan

by kattybachon



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Human Doctor (Doctor Who), Sergeant!Thirteen, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-11 07:29:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17442575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattybachon/pseuds/kattybachon
Summary: The Doctor is a sergeant at one of Sheffield's police departments and takes a liking to Yaz, who has relocated there as a new constable. Feelings ensue, and several boundaries are crossed.





	1. The First Boundary

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first time writing a fic that's got multiple chapters so buckle up and enjoy the ride :D

The Doctor sits at her desk, glaring at the monitor in front of her as if it had just insulted her. She scrunches up her face, deeply confused at the problem that lay before her.

“Hey Doctor,” Ryan says as he walks Yaz through the door. “Yasmin Khan, meet sergeant Smith- or as we like to call her, the Doctor. Doc, this is Yaz. She’s the new constable that relocated from Stamford.”

She snaps her head up to look at the pair who made her lose her train of thought. Her slight annoyance is soon gone as she takes in the sight of the young woman standing next to Ryan.

She’s much shorter than him, with dark skin and even darker hair. Her eyes are wide with anxiousness and excitement, the light reflecting off of their deep brown making them seem impossibly bigger. Her uniform fits her perfectly, hugging her curves tightly yet not too much. She looks incredibly young, maybe around 20 or 21.

The Doctor stands and makes her way around her desk to greet them properly. 

“Hi,” Yaz greets, extending her arm towards the blonde woman in front of her. The desk was obscuring most of her body, but from what Yaz is able to see now, she’s definitely in shape. She’s wearing the more casual uniform- a light blue button-down and a black tie, along with a navy-blue jumper with the ‘police’ symbol stitched into the left side of her chest. The jumper is just tight enough that it outlines the frame of her arms clearly. “Pleasure to meet you,” she finally continues.

“And you,” she replies. Her eyes are slightly squinted, and she furrows her brow. “You’re a bit young to be a full-time constable… Most people your age would still be in training.”

Yaz laughs. “Well I guess I’m a bit different from the rest then. Say… aren’t you a bit young to be a sergeant?”

For a moment, she questions her choice of an answer as the Doctor is yet to respond. After a brief pause, a smirk begins to form on her lips. It grows and grows until it’s a full-on smile, causing her laugh lines and crows feet to be accentuated. Then, she releases the most endearing laugh, followed by a dramatic sigh.

“Well, I tell you what Yasmin Khan- these guys are gonna have a lot to put up with between the both of us, I can tell.”

 

\---

 

“Why do they call you the Doctor?” Yaz asks in-between bites of her sandwich. The Doctor kindly offered to sit with her during her first lunch break, most likely out of pity for her being alone. 

“I’ve got a lot of PhD’s” she replies matter-of-factly.

“How many?”

“Thirteen…” the Doctor answers quietly.

“What?!”

“Shhh! It’s not that amazing, keep it down.” A hint of red starts to make its way across her cheeks.

“Not that amazing? It’s incredible!” Yaz can’t believe it. Why would such a smart woman be in the police force? And how the hell did she manage that many PhD’s?

“Aw thanks. But enough about me now, what about you?”

“Oh I haven’t got any PhD’s, I-“

“No not that, how’d you get through the training program so fast?” She takes the last sip of her coffee and sets it on the table, ready for an explanation.

“What? Oh, I didn’t. It took me the usual amount of time…” After a moment of confusion, Yaz remembers what the Doctor had said about her age when they met.

“But then… how old are you? If you don’t mind me asking.” The Doctor tries to mask her eagerness for an answer but fails. 

Yaz grins. “How old do you think I am?”

The Doctor squints at her again. “21?”

“28.”

“NO WAY,” she practically shouts.

“Geeze, what happened to keeping it down?” Yaz laughs at the look of pure shock plastered across the other woman’s face. 

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just- you look so much younger! What’s the secret?” She leans forward in her seat, looking surprisingly like an excited puppy for a woman of her age and rank.

“If I told you then it wouldn’t be a secret, would it?” she smirks, and a warm feeling settles in her chest as the Doctor mirrors her expression.

 

\---

 

“Looks like I’m going to be your supervisor for today, PC Khan” the Doctor says happily, walking over to where Yaz is standing next to a patrol car. They’re both wearing their usual uniform, fully decked out with a chunky vest and all. But still, the Doctor can’t help but admire the way the other woman flaunts the outfit as if it were specifically tailored to her. 

“Oh, cool!” Yaz tries to act nonchalant about it, pushing away the sudden nervousness that washes over her. She’s been feeling like this around the Doctor for the past few days. It’s like her presence suddenly makes her senses run into overdrive. She enjoys the Doctor’s company, very much so. Yet, she can’t help but feel hyper-aware of all her actions when she’s around. 

“Don’t look so nervous, I’m not assessing you or anything. Just making sure you’re alright is all,” the Doctor says, placing a hand on her upper arm. The sudden contact is enough to break Yaz out of her thoughts. She struggles to find the right response and instead offers her a smile. The Doctor then pats her arm before making her way around the vehicle and into the passenger seat. 

They drive for about an hour, talking about a wide range of topics, from Brexit all the way to frogs. Neither of them have the slightest clue how they got to it, but when they realise that they’re arguing about the cuteness/grossness of amphibians, they glance at each other and proceed to burst into laughter. The Doctor can barely contain herself, tears forming in her eyes. Yaz giggles furiously at the wheel, desperately trying to keep it steady. 

The Doctor wipes the last tear from her eye and settles down. “Oh Yaz, I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.”

The unexpected sound of her nickname coming from the Doctor’s mouth is a welcome surprise. She feels the heat pooling in her chest again.

“Oh, um.. is it alright if I call you that?” she abruptly asks as she notices Yaz’s raised eyebrows. 

“What? Oh, yeah definitely. Most of my friends call me Yaz anyway,” she quickly tries to recover. 

The Doctor is touched at the inclusion of her as one of Yaz’s friends. But before she can fully think about it, something in her memory clicks.

“Oh I forgot to ask you a while back… Do you and Ryan know each other? I heard him call you Yaz when you first came.”

“Yeah, me and Ryan go way back. We used to go to high school together.”

“Wow, small world isn’t it?”

“Yep, especially when Ryan Sinclair’s involved in it.” They both laugh at that.

“He’s a good kid, been working here for a long time now. Did you two ever…?” The Doctor looks expectantly at Yaz.

“What? No. No way. He did try to get me to date him but… let’s just say he’s not my type.”

“Oh?” It takes all of her will power to stop herself from asking Yaz what her type is. She only barely manages. “Why not?”

“He’s sweet, a little too sweet, you know? I like it when people have a bit of stubbornness or grit to them. I like a challenge.”

“Mhmm. Although, seek too much of a challenge and you’ll end up with someone you’re bound to argue with. A lot,” she grumbles. 

Yaz’s stomach suddenly sinks, but she doesn’t know why. It never really occurred to her that the Doctor has a life outside of the force- a husband? A child, maybe?

“You’ve got a husband, then?” she asks. She figures it’s the only way to know for sure.

“Hmm? Oh, no. Wife. Or ex wife I should say.” The Doctor then appears to be partially lost in thought.

“Ah, right. Bit of a challenge, I take it?” Yaz suddenly feels relief wash over her body. She doesn’t want to analyse why right now so she shoves it aside. 

The Doctor faces her again. “You have no idea.”

 

\---

 

After four hours of patrolling, along with a quick lunch, they finally head back to the precinct. Yaz laughs at the conclusion of one of the Doctor’s crazy stories about her ex wife. When the laughter subsides, Yaz puts the car into park.

“I’m going to be honest with you right now Yaz… I feel I’ve crossed a few professional boundaries today. I really shouldn’t be telling you all these things,” the Doctor says as she nervously rubs at the back of her neck. She turns to the side and is surprised to see a grin forming in front of her.

Yaz chuckles softly. “Don’t worry Doctor, I won’t tell if you don’t.”


	2. A Familiar Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz's flatmate wants to know who's responsible for her good mood.

Yaz walks chirpily up the stairs to reach her front door. She fumbles with her keys momentarily before going to slide them into the lock. As she does so, the door opens, meaning it wasn’t closed in the first place. She sighs. 

“Rose!” she yells into the empty space as she walks inside.

“Oh, Yaz!” she hears from upstairs. It’s shortly followed by a flurry of footsteps trampling down the carpeted stairs. 

“Rose, you forgot to lock the door again. You know how dodgy this neighbourhood is-“

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,” she interrupts. The blonde takes a quick sweep over Yaz’s body. “Someone’s in a good mood- what happened today? A robbery? Car chase?” she asks excitedly.

“Nothing,” Yaz replies, trying to brush her off. She walks to the kitchen to make herself a cuppa while Rose follows close behind. They remain silent until the kettle boils.

“So then… did you meet someone? Wait, did you finally get shagged? Oh my God, was it Ryan?”

At that, Yaz stops mixing her tea. “What?! No! None of those things!”

Rose pouts. “C’mon Yaz, you can tell me. I promise I won’t judge.” She desperately wants to know what’s got her friend in such a good mood- God knows it’s been a while since she’s been like this.

Yaz gives the woman a look and sighs, signalling defeat. The blonde smiles at her and snatches her cup away, bringing it to the sofa so they can talk comfortably. 

“Well? Go on,” she prods, leaning against the cushions.

“There really was nothing. I’m just… happy. I’ve settled into my job, I’m back home- my real home, where I have friends… and I have a pretty good um friendship with one- uh, some of my colleagues. Everything’s just going well, that’s all. And today was just a particularly good day,” she tries to explain. She proceeds to drink her tea to distract herself from the situation.

“Listen,” Rose sighs. “Clearly, you’re not ready to talk about it, but when you are… just know you can tell me anything,” she says, genuinely.

“I know. Thanks Rose.”

“Don’t mention it.”

After a few more sips, she sets the cup down and turns on the tv. Rose quickly grabs the remote out of her hand to watch the new episode of something she’s invested in. Yaz doesn’t really pay attention. Instead, her mind wanders off, thinking about the patrol she had with the Doctor.

She’s an interesting person, the Doctor. She’s ridiculously smart, yet chooses to work as a sergeant in the police force. She’s mature, yet the smallest of things excite her and bring her pure joy. Her focused demeanour was broken as soon as she saw a dog sticking it’s head out of a window, and not to mention when a little kid refused to stop waving at them from the window of another car. She talked non-stop with Yaz during the whole patrol, but when she’s at the department, she’s one of the quietest people there. Apart from when she’s eating lunch with Yaz, of course. She can’t help but gravitate towards the woman, finding herself wanting to know more and more about the Doctor. 

Her eyes instantly settle on her laptop sitting atop the coffee table in front of her. She opens it up, getting into a comfortable position. She opts for laying against the arm rest and splaying her legs on top of Rose. She knows she won’t mind.

As she goes to type the name into google, she is suddenly aware that she doesn’t know the Doctor’s first name. It never occurred to her to ask, making her feel rather stupid at this point. Instead, she settles for searching “sergeant Smith Sheffield police”. 

Plenty of results pop up, most from local news websites reporting on crimes that she was involved in investigating. She clicks on some until she finds one that includes a photo that makes her mouth go dry. It’s of the Doctor in the formal uniform- a simple white dress shirt and black tie, along with black trousers. To top it all off, she wears a black suit jacket, buttoned all the way with silver buttons. It also has a small chain leading from the top button into the pocket on the left side of her chest. The whole thing fits her perfectly and outlines the frame of her body incredibly well. She has quite a small waist, the jacket pulling inwards to define it even further. She appears to be in some sort of march or event, accompanied by many other police officers in similar dress. She’s looking at something out of view, the angle of which makes her jawline appear extremely sharp. The Doctor looks like a force to be reckoned with in this photo, much different to the Doctor that Yaz experienced in the patrol car today. She can safely say that she likes her Doctor- the goofy, witty, and kind-hearted Doctor. Although, something deep in the pit of her stomach ignites at the thought of seeing her be more commanding, especially in this uniform. 

She scrolls down further to see that the photo has been captioned, revealing the Doctor’s name. It reads “sergeant Joanne Smith joins in lining the streets where PC Keith Palmer’s funeral takes place”. Even though she hasn’t known the Doctor for too long, she has already grown accustomed to calling her the Doctor. The idea of calling her Joanne seems very odd to her, which in itself is quite odd. With this new piece of information, she heads back to search her full name. Fewer results appear; a few Facebook profiles, LinkedIn accounts, nothing belonging to the real Doctor. In one last attempt, she makes her way to the images tab. After scrolling half way down, Yaz stops at a picture. 

She wouldn’t have recognised her if it weren’t for her iconic broad smile. It must be an old photo as the Doctor has long brown hair, and looks much younger. She has her arms wrapped around a man, who wears a brown suit along with a long coat. He has brown, spiked up hair, and a similar cheeky smile to the Doctor’s. She looks adorable- adorable? Who’s she kidding, she does look adorable. Her eyes are slightly shut due to the intensity of her grin, and her teeth are fully exposed. She looks the happiest Yaz has ever seen her. She wears a simple blue shirt with brown trousers, the collar big enough just so that Yaz can see the distinctness of her collar bones. After a few more moments of staring, her eyes are drawn to her ear- one of them has a beautiful earring. It appears to be attached to both the top of her ear and at her lobe, a fine chain linking the two. The picture is too low quality for her to get a good look at the details but Yaz thinks it looks very unique. She’ll have to find a way to ask the Doctor about it sometime without coming across as creepy. 

When Yaz looks up from her screen to glance at Rose, she finds that the blonde is already staring at her. She’s suddenly aware that she’s grinning like an idiot.

“Find something you were looking for?” she asks Yaz, smirking cheekily.

“What makes you say that?”

“You were really focused for a while, you looked like you were searching for the meaning of life or something. And just then you had that dopey smile on your face. I’ll take a wild guess,” she laughs. “Can I see?”

Yaz hesitates for a moment, considering the pros and cons of showing Rose the photo. In the end, she thinks about the fact that Rose doesn’t know who the Doctor is and gives in. She turns the laptop around and the other woman leans in closer. Suddenly, she sees her eyes go wide.

“What?”

“Oh my God.”

“What?!” Yaz asks, more insistently.

“Why are you looking at this photo?” she asks, not taking her eyes off the screen.

“I was looking for photos of one of my friends… why?” She’s suddenly a bit nervous. Rose hardly ever acts like this.

“Which one is your friend?”

“The blonde woman.”

She hears Rose sigh in relief. “Oh thank God!” At that, she slumps back into the seat. 

“Care to explain?” Yaz raises her eyebrows at her.

“Um, yeah… about that,” she begins. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet. I have a boyfriend. That's him right there.”

“What?! And you didn’t tell me?!” Yaz feels slightly offended.

“I didn’t want to tell you until I knew it was serious! And then you left town and I guess I just forgot to mention it when you came back…” she meekly argues. 

It’s Yaz’s turn to sigh. “Well, go on then. How long’ve you two been together?”

“…almost three years.”

Yaz sits in silence. “Three years? Blimey that’s… that’s a long time. He’s very handsome though, surely you’d let me meet him sometime? You can invite him ‘round here if you want.”

“Really? That’d be great! I’m glad you’re not mad at me for not telling you sooner, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But I think you’ll like him- he’s very chirpy.”

“I’d love to meet him. And of course I’m not mad, we both know that it was my fault that I didn’t stay in touch while I was gone…”

They sit quietly for a few moments before Rose asks the question that she’s been dreading.

“So… who’s the blonde chick?”


	3. The Name of The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yaz admits to googling The Doctor, but is met with an unexpected reaction at the mention of her name.

Yaz knew she would have to tell Rose about the Doctor, she just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. She was hoping she would have some time to think about her “feelings” and then tell her when she’s ready. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

“She’s… a sergeant at the department, sergeant Smith” she reluctantly confesses.

“Huh, this is a pretty big coincidence…” Rose muses.

“What do you mean?”

“My boyfriend’s name is John. John Smith. And that-” she points at the Doctor, “is his sister.”

They remain silent until Yaz’s brain catches up with everything. “So, your boyfriend is the brother of my sergeant?”

She’s met with a look of confusion. “Your sergeant?”

Yaz immediately realises she’s screwed. “Oh no, not my sergeant, I meant a sergeant… at my department. There’s a few of them, I just…” she faulters at the sight of the other woman raising her eyebrows. “Shut up,” she huffs. 

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were thinking about something! It’s all over your face,” she points at her now-forming smile.

“And yours too,” the blonde smirks. “I met her once. Nice lady, she’s pretty bubbly from what I gathered.”

“When did you meet her?” Yaz tries to ask casually. 

“Oh, I went to see John at their house.”

“Their house?” Yaz puts the emphasis on ‘their’. 

“Yeah, well I guess technically it’s her house. John’s been through some stuff- he got fired from his job because of a dick called Harold Saxon, so they live together for now. But he’s planning on moving in with me soon. Maybe before that happens I can take you there to meet him, and while you’re there you can see your woman,” she nudges Yaz with her shoulder. 

“She’s not my woman.”

“Yet,” she retorts. 

 

\---

 

The Doctor sheds her jacket with a sigh and hangs it up with a sigh. “I’m home!” she announces into the air. She then promptly walks to the kitchen to grab herself a snack- a few custard cream biscuits never hurt anybody. 

“Someone’s in a happy mood, aren’t they?” she hears from behind her. She turns to face her brother, who is now smirking at her with his laptop in hand. His glasses are crooked, and his hair is a mess, having been spiked in every direction by an interesting position on the couch, she guesses. 

“What makes you say that?” she asks obliviously while shoving a biscuit into her mouth, crumbs immediately spilling out at the movement of her lips as she talks.

“Well, firstly, you’re smiling like an idiot. Secondly, you only ever go straight for the custard creams when you’ve had a really good day.”

“Tsk, am I really that predictable?” she asks while scrunching her nose up. He simply raises his eyebrow and makes his way to a chair at the kitchen table. “How’re you and Rose- finalise your moving plans yet? Not that I’m trying to kick you out or anything,” she inquires. 

“We spoke earlier and set a day to aim for, but I just received a text from her a minute ago saying to put a pause on everything we discussed… Not for any reason involving our relationship though, don’t worry. She said she’ll explain later- she’s going out to dinner with her mate first,” he informs her, halting his typing for the occasional eccentric hand gesture. 

“How about the book, nearly getting there?” she asks in between chews of her custard creams.

John merely replies with a look that reads “don’t even go there”.

“Got a title at least?”

“Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It seemed fitting, seeing as I’m writing a book about the effect that different dimensions have on time. Specifically, in space.”

“Sounds ace. It’s a bit wordy, don’t you think?” she laughs. “Maybe you could make that into an acronym… T.R.D.S. Wait no, that sounds like ‘turds’… How about TARDIS?”

John’s face suddenly lights up. “Brilliant! TARDIS it is!” he exclaims, immediately typing it into the document. 

The Doctor smiles, happy that she can help her brother with anything, no matter how small. She hates seeing him cooped up all day in the house while her or Rose are busy. She’s much more relieved when the two go out together- it distracts him from the fact that he’s an unemployed 35-year-old man living with his sister… 

“So… who’s the lucky lady that made you so cheery today?” he finally asks.

She groans, brushing her hands together to dust the last of the crumbs off her hands. “Just a friend, and she’s my colleague. Don’t get too excited.”

“Naw, why not? It’s been almost three years since River! It’s about time you found someone else,” he tells her.

“In a bit of a rush, am I?” she teases, trying to make light of the conversation. 

“No no! What I’m trying to say is… I hate seeing you so lonely. I know you don’t like it when I point it out, but it’s true. You’re not as talkative as you used to be… You remind me more and more of dad every day.”

“He was a grumpy old Scotsman, ‘chirpy’ wasn’t exactly in his nature,” she snorts. 

“You get what I’m saying,” he calmly affirms. He offers her a reassuring smile. “Well, whoever she is, I hope you spend a lot more time with her. I much prefer your good mood over your bad one.”

At that, she leaves him with a faint smile. She walks upstairs to her room in order to distract her mind from the one person who’s been occupying it the past few days. Perhaps a cold shower will do the trick. 

 

\---

 

The Doctor chews away at her lunch, sipping from her mug every so often, as per usual. Sitting together during their lunch breaks have become a frequent occurrence for the two of them. After the first few times, Yaz thought that the Doctor would’ve grown bored of her, but she was pleasantly surprised when she kept deciding to do so. After thinking about it some more, Yaz begins to realise something that she should have from the beginning. 

The Doctor has no friends. Well, there’s Ryan (sort of), but other than him, she rarely talks to anyone besides Yaz. Often times she’ll come back from a patrol and find her sitting quietly at her desk, working away on her computer or digging through files. To be fair, her colleagues aren’t exactly the nicest bunch of people. They don’t have the most positive outlook on life, and many of them like to make inappropriate jokes when they’re with her. 

She’s used to working around lots of men, being one of 4 women in her old precinct in Stamford, and now being one of 3. She doesn’t let their stares and ‘guy talk’ get to her head, unlike the other woman here at the department. The third one, Emily, hardly talks to her. She’s constantly on the go, being the Chief Detective Inspector and all. She much less talks to the Doctor, or at least from what she’s seen so far. 

She suddenly feels kind of bad for the Doctor, as she seems like the type of person that would make friends really easily. She finds herself hoping that she has friends outside of work, but that doesn’t seem very likely from the number of hours she spends working here. Yaz is less annoyed at the fact that she has less patrols than some of the other constables now; at least she still has time to go home and hang out with Rose. That being said, she still thinks she can do more. 

At the thought of Rose, she remembers what she had uncovered about the Doctor last night. 

“I have a confession,” Yaz finally admits, setting her coffee mug down.

“Oh?” the Doctor says through her mouth full of food. 

“I know this is gonna sound weird but… I googled you.” She leans back in her chair, expecting a look of discomfort from her. 

“Find anything interesting?” she questions.

After seeing that the Doctor is acting perfectly normal, she decides to come clean. “Your name.”

The doctors face goes slack, a cold look seeping into her expression. Yaz looks down to see that her fist is clenched, the other gripping tight onto her sandwich, causing some of the contents to spill out the top. She instantly regrets her decision to tell the Doctor anything.

“You don’t plan on calling me that name, right?” the blonde asks sternly, sounding more like a request than a question. 

“No, course not. I’m so used to calling you Doctor now. Plus, I can tell you don’t want to be called that so I won’t, I’m sorry…” she trails off, unable to look her in the eyes. 

At that, the Doctor’s icy glare wavers before almost completely returning to its usual warmth. “You’ve got nothing to apologise for Yaz, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one that’s sorry, my name is a bit of a sensitive topic for me…” she smiles weakly, looking at the table rather than at the younger woman sitting before her. After a brief pause, she takes a look at her watch. “Let’s get a shift on, shall we?”


End file.
